A Start to Start With

“Even a ten thousand miles’ journey starts with the first step” – It is a very old and traditional Chinese proverb coming to my mind tonight.

And most clearly: A “ten thousand miles’ journey” is – if not infinite – not to be defined at the outset. You cannot tell where it will lead you to.

And this is so very true for what I am doing here: I know the voyage will be long, too long to be overlooked at the starting point. Yet, the first steps are taken. This very day.

What it is all about, and what it will be all about, can not only be told by a statement of objectives. But it will be told by the course of events we will be faced with – while we are doing what we have in mind.

One thing must be said though, on this particular occasion: Why was the name chosen? There is a particular reason to do so: A “rhinestone” had been – in years past and forgotten – not the glittering fake-like jewel substitute it is today. It was something very valuable instead, found only with adequate patience in the shallow waters of the Rhine banks in today’s Austria and Liechtenstein – where my family once came from.

So, if you look at a rhinestone: Light in itself cannot be seen. It may be regarded as being either wave or particle, as science tells us. But minerals like the original rhinestone, found on the banks of the upper Rhine in Switzerland and Austria – hence the name – once reflected light. They made the invisible visible: Light in all its facettes.

And with a substantial emphasis I must say, this is how I would like to work: Making the invisible shine, as it were, even bring the unheard of to attention, and helping the unexperienced to be perceived. Intensifying life, even by means of expression, by means of speech and art and music, this is my aim.